Cord winder

Abstract

There is disclosed a telephone cord winder having a single, torsional spring driven cord reel which is rotationally mounted within a cord winder housing. The extendible telephone cord is wound on the reel and electrically connected, through an internal rotary connector, to a stationary cord. Each of the extendible and stationary cords terminates in a modular phone plug adapted to be received in conventional modular phone sockets with multiple contacts, conventionally four or six contacts for phones.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. In a telephone cord winder including a cord reel rotationally mounted in a winder housing and biased by a torsional spring drive, the improvement comprising: a first end of a first multiple conductor cord, having a plurality of first conductors, terminally connected to a first modular phone plug;   a first end of a second multiple conductor cord, having a plurality of second conductors, terminally connected to a second modular phone plug;   said phone plugs adapted for insertion into modular phone receptacles of a base and a handset of a telephone,   said first multiple conductor cord having a second end, opposite its first end, received within said winder housing and wrapped about said cord reel,   a rotary connector received within said winder housing, said rotary connector including: (a) a connector case mounted for rotational movement relative to said winder housing and rotationally indexed to said cord reel, said connector case including: (1) a first plurality of connector blades, each being in electrical connection to a respective one of said first conductors at said second end of said first multiple conductor cord, and   (2) a plurality of wiper arms, each being in electrical connection to a respective one of said first plurality of connector blades; and     (b) a rotary connector plug indexed to said winder housing and received within said connector case, said rotary connector plug allowing said connector case to freely rotate thereabout, said rotary connector plug including: (1) a plurality of conductor tracks, each being in sliding electrical contact with a respective one of said plurality of wiper arms,   (2) a plurality of contacts, each being in electrical connection with a respective one of the plurality of conductor tracks, and   (3) a second plurality of connector blades, each being in electrical connection with a respective one of the plurality of contacts, and each also being in electrical connection to a respective one of said second conductors at a second end of said second multiple conductor cord opposite said first end of said second multiple conductor cord.       
     
     
       2. The telephone cord winder of claim 1 wherein said plurality of wiper arms are resilient springs. 
     
     
       3. The telephone cord winder of claim 1 wherein said connector case is rotationally indexed to said cord reel by a joint permitting axial displacement of said connector case relative to said cord reel. 
     
     
       4. The telephone cord winder of claim 3 wherein said connector case has a central square recess which loosely receives a square boss of said cord reel. 
     
     
       5. The telephone cord winder of claim 1 wherein said rotary connector plug is rotationally indexed to said winder housing by a joint permitting axial displacement of said rotary connector plug relative to said winder housing. 
     
     
       6. The telephone cord winder of claim 5 wherein rotary connector plug has a square boss which is loosely received between ribs on an inside wall surface of said winder housing. 
     
     
       7. The telephone cord winder of claim 1 wherein said conductor tracks are circular and disposed on one side of a flat circuit board and said contacts are disposed on the opposite side of said circuit board and including through connectors interconnecting one each of said contact to a respective one of said conductor tracks. 
     
     
       8. The telephone cord winder of claim 7 wherein said connector case is a cylindrical case is cylindrical case which is rotationally received about said rotary connector plug and said flat circuit board is fixedly secured in said connector plug. 
     
     
       9. The telephone winder of claim 8 wherein said rotary connector is a modular sub-assembly. 
     
     
       10. The telephone cord winder of claim 1 wherein said cord reel includes a shaft, a drum mounted on the shaft, and a circular flange attached to the drum. 
     
     
       11. The telephone cord winder of claim 10 wherein said circular flange includes a through slot, and said second cord end of said first multiple conductor cord is fastened to said drum and extends through said slot and into the rotary connector. 
     
     
       12. The telephone cord winder of claim 10 wherein said torsional spring drive includes a torsional helical spring with one end fixedly secured to said winder housing and another end secured to said drum to apply a torsional bias to said drum.